I too find myself fascinated. Mostly at wondering how all of the pomp and circumstances feels really out of place in a religion that claims to be directly descended from a penniless, itinerate rabbi who spent his time devoted to the poor, the sick, the outcasts of society and had nothing but bad things to say about the organized religious leaders of His day.

claims to be directly descended from a penniless, itinerate rabbi who spent his time devoted to the poor, the sick, the outcasts of society and had nothing but bad things to say about the organized religious leaders of His day.

All of the Republican stalling and temper tantrums over Republican former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s nomination for defense secretary, including an historic filibuster, succeeded in drawing out the confirmation process and giving a number of Republican senators a chance to grandstand extensively. But all that has finally given way to a cloture vote in which the Senate voted, 71 to 27, to move forward to an actual up or down vote.

@Patricia Kayden: Every Pope gets his own seal ring bearing the device of Peter as fisherman of souls. It’s cast from gold for the new Pope and then ceremonially melted down in front of the cardinals after he dies. This is to prevent the manufacture of fraudulent papal missives (“hey guys, look what we just found in the Popemobile’s glove compartment, it has his seal and everything”).

Huh, just remembered one of the traditional ways of recognizing the Devil in all his disguises is looking for the cloven hooves (CGI resistent, apparently). Are red non-cloven feet the Pope tell for those of wishing to avoid both? In any case, quite the footwear fetishists the group is revealing itself as. Quite the least of their freaks.

@rikyrah:
Well, a guy in his position gets to say what the rules are; and by definition, no one gets to contradict him. According to Wikipedia, the very first pope to quit the job did so right after making up receiving from God the rule that popes were allowed to quit.

@handsmile: I know, I’m one of those Protestant heretics, and goodness knows, we’ve got some of the same problems with church politics and spending our money on gilded cathedrals. Ours are just gaudier.

@PurpleGirl: Etna is very active, but recent eruptions haven’t been dangerous to the surrounding population, so you don’t hear much about them. It’s a Decade Volcano, so it’s monitored and studied in detail.

@Poopyman: So, help out someone who really does not understand these rituals. Was the entire point of the Hagel thing to give cover to Republican senators who are worried about a Tea Party primary challenge?

After all, wasn’t Hagel McCain’s choice as SecDef? How much more “It’s not OK if the black guy does it” can one be?

I didn’t know Hagel was McCain’s pick for SecDef, but if so, it partly explains the petulance. It means McCain saw Hagel as “his” guy. For him to accept the same offer when made by the opposite side (worse, by the man who defeated McCain) is a betrayal that proves Hagel wasn’t on McCain’s side after all, and for that betrayal he must pay. McCain is one angry and vindictive son of a bitch.

In other news, the sky is blue.liberals claim that the sky is blue, but conservatives strenuously and seriously retort that it is pink. Are liberals once again playing politics in a way that many claim endangers the nation’s very survival, or could some in the conservative establishment have made a slight and uncharacteristic mistake? We report, you decide!

@dance around in your bones: My s-i-l turned just turned forty and my 91 y/o grandmother nearly died last week due to heart problems – they just put in a pacemaker and she is on the road to recovery. I was thinking about some of this shit over the weekend.

@dance around in your bones: The old lady may make it back to her home. She has to put in some time in a rehab facility, but there is hope. She is a tough old bird; neither ventricle of her heart was working, yet she is still kicking – just not very hard right now. Thanks for the sympathy; I fucking hate waiting around in hospitals.

Gads, I remember picking up a used book at my daughter’s wedding in Mexico called Destiny of Souls or something like that – it was all about our lives between our lives or something. It made a huge impression on me at the time.

I really liked the idea that if your last life was really stressful, you could kinda hang out in a cave in a fetal position until you were ready to take on physical life again.

The current pope doesn’t get to decide what the next pope will wear. The only way this story makes sense is if the next pope has already been chosen and he’s telling people he’s wearing the brown shoes.

It might also be interpretted as “MFer ain’t gettin’ my pradas and my ring.”